


Ending & Beginning

by Hisha



Series: Auntie Hornet [1]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Game)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen, Hornet is Grimmchild's new caretaker now, I just wrote this fic to establish Auntie Hornet taking care of Grimmchild after her sibling's death, Post Dream No More Ending, The Knight's pronouns are they/it, but they all died before the fic actually starts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-20 04:53:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20222125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hisha/pseuds/Hisha
Summary: Hornet's mother was dead. Her half-siblings had returned to the Void. However, the daughter of Hallownest might not be as alone as she initially thought.





	Ending & Beginning

Hornet woke up to the last remnants of void disappearing into the ground. She wouldn't be able to give any detail about what had happened after her sibling used the Dream Nail, but before she even opened her eyes she could feel something had changed.

She stood up. The air felt cleaner now, and her strength was no longer drained from her by being inside the Black Egg.

She looked around ; the little ghost's mask laid there broken in half right in the middle of the room. A bit farther away, white shards of what presumably was the Hollow Knight's mask were also there.

Hornet stood there for... who knew how long. Certainly not her. Then she dashed right outside the temple.

The orange blobs of infection that previously littered the crossroad were gone : the ghost had actually done it. She rushed back inside to pick up what her half-siblings had left behind. At least she knew they didn't die in vain.

_They were already dead_, the princess kept repeating to herself in her mind. _They all can rest in peace now, finally_. Maybe if she kept telling herself that over and over again, it would make her feel better.

Some of the objects Ghost had collected on their journey were still there, though most these were broken or bent from... whatever had happened. Most likely a fight to the death with the very source of the infection. She gathered everything and headed back to the Distant Village.

Several days passed. Where Herrah the Beast once dreamed was now an empty altar. Next to it, Hornet had added a small table she had turned into an improvised shrine to her late siblings. The very few material possessions they had left behind laid there to remind their sister of the family she barely had any time to know.

But she wasn't there now. After burying her mother, Hornet had spent the following night on the cold iron bench in Dirtmouth, unable to bear the sight of the empty spot on the altar. She was woken up by the first rays of dawn and the sound of Elderbug approaching.

She sat up, stretched her limbs, then stood up to greet the old bug.

“Good morning indeed”, he replied. “I don't know what happened but... Things seem to be going better. All the bugs who go down the well come back now.”

“There is no more infection driving them to madness”, Hornet stated.

“So I've heard from the others. This gives me hope for the future.”

A light drizzle started falling from the sky, giving what little plant life was left some nourishment.

“I haven't seen that little silent one in a while”, Elderbug commented. “You might have seen it. I hope nothing bad happened to it.”

“They destroyed the source of the infection.”

“Did they?”

“This kingdom can finally rest in peace now”, Hornet said. “Maybe, in time, something new will take its place. Even if they won't be there to see it.”

“...I'll miss the silent one.”

“You won't be the only one.”

Hornet stayed in Dirtmouth telling everyone about who had stopped the infection for the rest of the day. Her sibling deserved to be remembered, and the least she could do was to make sure they were.

Eventually, she gathered the courage to return to the improvised shrine she had built. As she cleaned up the little dust that had gathered in the room over the past few days, she could swear she saw one of Ghost's surviving charms move slightly just in her peripheral vision. When she actually looked at it, it remained as still as everything else before her. Had she imagined it?

She picked it up, and a small winged creature with bright scarlet eyes appeared. Hornet had seen it before, accompanying her sibling in various parts of Hallownest. It flew all around her, inspecting her. It looked quite young, yet something in those unblinking red eyes seemed way older than Hornet could comprehend.

It then landed right in front of Ghost's shattered mask and silently stared at it.

“This little ghost's time with us was so short, yet it accomplished so much”, Hornet said.

The creature crawled a little closer to the mask pieces, almost touching them.

“I should have come back for you sooner”, the princess continued. “Forgive me, I did not think you would still be there... At least we- you don't have to be alone anymore.”

There was something strange about this child, Hornet could see that clear as day. But if her sibling was willing to take care of it (if this vessel was able to transcend its original purpose like it did, then it must have had a will of its own, right?), so would she.

“Come here, little one”, she told the child, extending a hand to it. “Since my sibling is gone, I'll watch over you now.”

It turned around to face Hornet's hand, stared at it for a moment, then flew directly to her head and landed itself right between her horns where it laid down. It soon fell asleep there ; she picked it up and carried it in her arms to the next empty house. She decided to claim said house as her own because living right in the middle of the memorial to her lost family didn't seem that good of an idea. She needed some space in her living quarters for the present, while keeping memories of the past within reach.

She used up all her silk to make a pillow to lay the creature in, and observed it for a moment.

“My sibling brought you many places”, Hornet commented, “but not into the final battle. Maybe because it would have been too much for you.”

The child shifted and produced a sleepy “prrbbt” sound that, the princess had to admit, was weirdly adorable.

“I'll go find some food for you”, she told it. “Wait here and stay safe.”

She headed outside to the nearest stag station. It took a while for the stag to arrive, but when he finally did, he apologised for the delay.

“More bugs have been using my services lately”, he explained. “It warms my heart, but I am afraid if demand keeps increasing my old legs might not be able to keep up. Where do you want to go?”

Before Hornet could reply, the child teleported in the air right next to her.

“I told you to stay safe, little one”, she scolded it.

It perched itself on her head.

“I am sure it will be very safe with you”, the old stag said.

“I guess you do have a point. Now, can you bring us to Dirtmouth?”

“Of course. Hop on.”

There were a few new faces in Dirtmouth now. Two were sitting on the bench, one was talking with Elderbug, and another was staring down into the well. A fifth one, a large fly carrying an even larger backpack, was laying a white sheet on the ground. They set said backpack on the sheet and started to unpack various objects.

“Do you need help?” Hornet asked them as she approached.

“No thank you”, they said, “I can set up shop on my own. But maybe you could help me by buying somethin'.”

“What are you selling?”

“All sorts of things”, the merchant replied while taking more and more things from their bag and setting them on the sheet. “Lookin' for somethin' specific?”

“Food for this little one”, Hornet replied while gesturing towards the child who was flying around her.

“Hum... Can't say I've ever seen somethin' quite like like that before. What does it even eat?”

Hornet hesitated.

“Show us what you have and we'll see what it likes. I'll pay you well.”

“I sure hope so.”

The child latched onto the first fruit it was presented, inserted its previously hidden proboscis into it and started sucking it dry. This process was taking a while so Hornet and the merchant killed time by striking up a conversation.

The merchant, whose name was Taon, was hopping to make a fortune here from all the potential customers that would soon come now that the region was safer.

“...And then I'll be able to build an actual shop!”, they said. “I'll make sure to keep it stocked with fruits for your... whatever this is.”

Hornet wasn't sure either, and she didn't feel like telling a stranger about how she came across this creature. Instead, she reached into her pocket and paid for some more food for the child and herself.

Once it was done eating, it flew back to somewhere above its new caretaker's head. She thanked Taon and walked to the newly-freed bench.

As Hornet sat, the child laid next to her. She absentmindedly scratched its head as she stared straight ahead, observing the town around her. The little creature purred.

“What should I call you?” she asked, looking down at it.

It looked back at her and tilted its head to one side.

“If you were given a name, I do not know of it”, the princess continued. “My sibling sure wouldn't have been able to tell anyone. But I have to call you something, don't I? What do you think of...”

She trailed off, trying to think of something.

“Wasp?”

The child shook its head no.

“Calyptra?”

No again.

Hornet looked into the creature's eyes. There was something... strange about them. Their slight glow reminded her of how some infected bugs' eyes would be completely filled with an orange light ; however the infection was gone, the colour was different and the child did not act at all like the Radiance's victims did. No, whatever was behind those eyes had a very different source.

“Hum... Red- no, wait. Scarlet?”

The child did a gesture with its wings that resembled a shrug.

“Good enough then?”

She started scratching its head again and it replied with various adorable sounds. Was her sibling attached to it? Were they capable of such emotion? She would never know for sure.

“Come now, Scarlet”, she called as she stood up, “let us see if anyone here needs help. Maybe... maybe with all of us together, we can rebuild something new atop these ruins. Begin anew. Ghost... the Hollow Knight... My siblings' sacrifice won't have been in vain. I will make sure of it.”

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact : vampire moths exist. They mostly suck on fruits, but some male ones have been observed to drink blood from mammals. There's at least one video out there of them feeding on humans who were studying them.  
I have no idea whether Team Cherry knew about this, but I like to imagine that if you fused a vampire moth with a bat and dressed that fusion in Dracula cosplay, you'd get something approaching Grimm.
> 
> Also, right after writing the scene where the Grimmchild eats, I remembered their attack animation shows them spitting fireballs from a mouth and not a proboscis, but decided to leave that in anyway 'cause the implication of them having two different "mouths" made that little creature even weirder.


End file.
